


Angel of the Losers

by LeeMorrigan



Category: The Losers (2010)
Genre: Bromance, Clay drinks too much, F/M, Found Family, Go Petunias!, Jensen and Cougar bromance, Jensen is still a geek, Jensen's girl isn't techy, Magic word, Partially Deaf, Takes place shortly after the movie, Team Dynamics, Team as Family, female pilot, hearing impaired character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:14:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 14,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22983112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: What if, a few months after the end of the movie, the team got a new member. A woman with a messed up history who is an excellent pilot and not too shabby at violence, but who isn't terribly computer-savvy yet she instantly catches the attention of one Jake Jensen? Follow the team's 3-year search for Max as they seek to clear their names and get their lives back.
Relationships: Aisha al-Fadhil & Jake Jensen, Aisha al-Fadhil/Franklin Clay, Carlos "Cougar" Alvarez & Jake Jensen, Jake Jensen & Linwood "Pooch" Porteous, Jake Jensen/Original Female Character(s), Jolene/Linwood "Pooch" Porteous
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	1. Gunfights and Getaways

**Author's Note:**

> Trigger Warnings for Chapter 1: Surgery performed on a bed on a rocking boat with no anesthetic and only vodka to clean the tools, shootout scene, minor swearing, bad guys appropriating culture that isn't theirs (in this case, Day of the Dead celebrations), blood, and nightmares about teammates dying.
> 
> The new girl is named Raphaelle Ryan, 'Rafe' for short, but only one character calls her that, otherwise it's her first or last name used. She can pilot a boat, helicopter, and/or plane, which was something the team could use.

_Year One with the Losers_

Raphaelle could not believe her eyes. The team had to get information on a contact of Max’s, and this contact was attending a California-based, not at all authentic, Day of the Dead celebration, where their target would be the grand master of sorts. Because of that, she, Pooch, and Jensen had to go hide among the crowd in costume. Which was why Jensen currently stood with his face painted and bedazzled, wearing a bright blue suit that looked like a 1970s nightmare prom photo, and currently doing the world’s worst one-man-Tango.

“What do ya think?”, he asked excitedly.

“It’s something.”, she commented.

Jensen preened some more in his new costume while Raphaelle did her best to shrug her way into a bright red top with black lace over it. Pooch, meanwhile, was still working his feet into the boots Clay had gotten. It took them a bit to get their costumes ready and then get into position for the parade that lead off to the big shindig.

“Hey, Rafe?”, Jensen called over the radio.

“Yeah?”, she whispered as she moved through a chunk of the crowd, closer to their target.

“You look like Sally from NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS. It’s a good look for you, kind’a hot, except kind’a dead cause Sally’s kind’ve a corpse since she’s like Frankenstein’s monster.”

“Jensen!”, Pooch growled over the comm, “SHUT UP!”

“You shut up. I was explaining something.”

They could all hear Clay’s sigh before he busted things up.

“Kids, can we focus on catching the bad guy and worry about B-movie references later.”

“B-movie! It’s a classic.”, Jensen protested.

“Jensen – focus.”, Rafe suggested.

“Right, right. Focus. We’re hunters in search of our prey.”

Raphaelle shook her head. Did the man ever stop talking? Clay, Pooch, Cougar, and Aisha combined, didn’t talk half as much as Jensen did all on his lonesome. Even if no one was listening.

They traveled with the crowd, Clay carefully hidden on a balcony near where the party would start, Pooch pretending to be with the clean up crew in the back, Jensen up front with the dancers and acrobats, Aisha driving one of the floats, Cougar hidden on a rooftop at a church near the party arena, and Raphaelle in the middle of the parade with a group of women in low-cut dresses and too much face paint. Their target was sitting up in the first float, in a fake thronechair, dressed as one of the gaudiest displays Raphaelle could ever remember seeing, twirling a cane and throwing fake flowers out into the crowd.

After what felt like hours but in reality had been barely 40 minutes, they arrived at the venue for the party. Instantly, music was piping loudly and confetti was coming out in bursts that looked like canon fire. Raphaelle moved to her designated position inside, hovering near a set of windows and the fire escape. Her job was to be there in case things went to hell. Jensen was over with the band with a drink in hand. Pooch had slipped in a back door and would be changing into a suit to look like one of the guests when he reappeared in a minute. Clay was just outside on a balcony, keeping an eye on the front gate area. Aisha had moved herself to the area where their target was getting his party on at a raised dais with fountains around him and a spotlight right on him. Cougar was still looking over them from above and behind Raphaelle.

“Aisha in position.”, she whispered over the comm.

“Pooch in place.”, he radioed in.

They went through, acknowledging that they were all where they were meant to be according to Clay’s plan. The play was going and the ball was about to be in possession. It was showtime for Aisha.

The former assassin and spy made her way up to the dais, her dress hugging her in all the right places as she prowled up towards their target. They had researched and found he had a type. Bold, sexy, dominant, flashy, with attitude problems to spare. Aisha was perfect for the role.

From her perch by the windows, Raphaelle almost felt sorry for the guy. It would have been quite sad watching him getting hooked so easily, if it weren’t for the knowledge of what a terrible human being he was. He used charities he ran as shields for illegal money laundering schemes and he also had a taste for the finer things in life, which had lead him into the world of weapons smuggling. And he had a pet tiger that he showed off to anyone who came near him. Raphaelle was still figuring out a plan to get the tiger to a good home at like Disney’s Animal Kingdom or something.

Aisha moved into place, easily getting past the guards and right in front of their target. She let him talk for a moment before laughing dismissively and walking away as she said something they couldn’t hear. Whatever it was, it worked. Their target was following after her like a puppy.

“This is too easy, Clay.”, Pooch commented.

~*~*~*~*~*~

20 Minutes Later

“You just had to jinx it!”, Aisha yelled over the gunfire as she, Pooch, and Jensen hid behind a stone half-wall.

“Well, it was going too easy!”

Aisha rolled her eyes before popping up to fire three shots, taking out two of the target’s security team, and wounding a third. She cursed as she slid back into her protected spot.

“I’m out.”

Pooch checked his weapon, Jensen then checking his.

“Four rounds.”

“Two.”, Jensen said.

“Shit.”, she growled.

“Clay,”, Aisha called into the radio, “We’ve got six shots left and then we’re totally out.”

“I’m on my way, babe. Ryan, where the hell are you?”

Raphaelle kicked the gunman’s wrist, knocking the gun away as she answered.

“Working my way across the room!”

“Well work faster!”

She kicked the gunman’s chest dead-center, knocking him backward before scooping up his gun and running for cover. She found where four guys had their left shoulders to her as they hid behind a display, firing at her team. Sitting up a little, Raphaelle fired two shots, then ducked back down before a volley came her way.

“Cougar! A little help!”

She barely heard the sound of the glass breaking in the window overhead, before bodies started dropping as the remaining men had moved out of her line of sight and right into Cougar’s.

“Good shooting, Cougar!”, Jensen howled over their comms.

The next couple minutes were a whirl of insanity. Aisha dove out with a weapon she had stolen off a dead body, and began taking down the security detail around their target. Raphaelle slid out of her place and snatched the Target, Cougar covering her as she moved, with Clay backing him up from the second story balcony. Jensen and Pooch grabbed weapons off some of the dead detail members, and covered the rear. Three more teams of hired guns came in from the main floor and two from the second story, all aiming for the five people they could see who were attempting to kidnap the boss. Someone shot the boss, thus meaning Aisha and Raphaelle were now dragging their injured target out to the waiting car.

Cougar continued to lay down cover, with Jensen and Pooch assisting, as Clay had to basically lift their target and heft him into the car while Aisha got behind the wheel and Raphaelle moved up to the roof of the car. She fired several shots, causing the few pursuing security guys to hide. Jensen and Pooch hopped up into the back end of the van as Raphaelle moved over to the little mini-cooper they had stolen for the occasion. Cougar slid in seconds later, firing shots over Raphaelle’s lap, out her open window, towards the bad guys.

The race was on. Both cars moved at top speeds, Aisha whipping the van around like she was qualifying for the Daytona 500 while Raphaelle did her best not to get left behind as she also dodged and wove her way through the city streets, heading for the beach. They continued their breakneck run for the shore, even as they were now being pursued by bad guys in SUVs behind them, firing at them without nearly as much care about collateral damage.

They finally arrived at the shore minutes later. A boat was waiting for them if they could just get to it. The team continued to speed about, avoiding hitting other cars, civilians on foot, and a very confused meter maid, all the while the bad guys continued shooting as if they owned stock in bullets.

Raphaelle dove in first, as she was the pilot for the boat and any planes or helicopters the team might need her to fly. Cougar jumped out with her, quickly finding a good place on the roof of the boat to lay down and take aim at their pursuers. Raphaelle had just gotten the engine started when she heard the windows shattering at bullets flew through them. Then, she felt a slight tinge in her side before she heard Cougar’s gun fire four consecutive shots and a small explosion rocked the dock to her left.

“You alright?”, Cougar called down to her.

“I’m good. Team?”

“Coming down the ramp.”

“Good!”

She waited till she heard Clay’s giving her the all-clear before she took off like the proverbial bat out of the flames. Several minutes later, they were in the open water and heading towards the ship they were to rendezvous with and board, leaving their little speed boat behind to float home. The idea was to ensure, if the bad guys did get a boat of some sort and try to chase them, or even a helicopter, they would find an empty ship matching the description of the one they thought their boss was on. Meanwhile, the whole team would be on another, slightly larger, ship as it sailed the opposite direction of where they had been heading when the bad guys last saw them.

Jensen headed to the cockpit. He wasn’t sure what you called the driver’s area of a ship, as he wasn’t a Navy guy. Besides, he liked the word cockpit.

He found Rafe at the helm, her eyes on the horizon, and still wearing her torn dress with bare feet as she navigated the waters off the California coast. With the late evening sun streaming in through the broken window, she looked… lovely. Like something off the cover of a trashy romance novel about spies. Or Kathleen Turner near the end of ROMANCING THE STONE. It was a good look for her.

Jensen walked further in, ready to tease her a little and bug her a little to get a smile out of her when he noticed something troubling. Blood. There were small drops of blood on the floor, near Rafe’s left foot. Looking more closely, Jensen spotted the wound. Rafe was favoring her side a bit with her left arm, her right on the helm as she steered the ship to the larger one they would make their final get-away in.

“Rafe?”

She started to turn, before hissing through her teeth as she flinched.

“Yeah?”

“You’re hurt?”

He was by her side in three steps, his hand moving her arm off so he could get a good look at the injury. She had been shot. From the looks of it, the bullet was still lodged in her side. She wasn’t bleeding enough for him to think she was going to bleed to death from an injury to an internal organ, but with the bullet in place, it was hard to tell. It could easily have been plugging the hole it made and removing it could send her gushing straight to an early grave.

Carefully, Jensen tore off a piece of her sleeve and pressed it against the wound in Rafe’s side. He heard her stifling a hiss as she tried to breathe through it. This close, Jensen could see the sweat beading up on her pale forehead and the dark circles forming under her green eyes.

“You gonna be okay to dock us up? I can call Aisha down, or Clay?”

She shook her head, her lips in a tight line.

“I’m good. I’m good.”

Jensen nodded, keeping his hand in place to apply firm, even pressure as she steered them into place. Clay and Pooch threw out the lines and Cougar jumped across to tie them off. Rafe held the smaller boat in place while everyone got across, Clay and Cougar having to drag the injured Target over to the bigger boat and drag him down below. Aisha came down to check on Jensen. Everyone seemed to know he had developed a small crush on the newest member of the team and between his lack of subtlety and her lack of patience, they all had bets on how long it would take before the new girl decked him. Aisha would win if she came down to find him with a black eye.

Instead of a fight or an unconscious, black-eyed Jensen, Aisha found Ryan still at the helm but with Jensen leaning near her side, his hand pressing something to her side, a bit of blood leaking out between Jensen’s fingers. Ryan had been shot.

“Ryan, you alright?”, she asked as she moved over to the two.

“I’m good, just gotta hold us in place until everyone gets in place.”

“We’re all that’s left. I’ll hold her steady, Jensen- you get her over. Then I’ll send this off.”

Jensen nodded without saying a word. His one hand still pressed the makeshift compress against Ryan’s wound, his other moved to hold her right elbow, leading her across the room and upstairs. Aisha almost chuckled. She might lose her bet on when Ryan was going to deck Jensen for his terrible advances, though she thought she stood a good chance of winning her bet on when they would sleep together.

~*~*~*~*~

Jensen lead Rafe over and onto the big boat. Clay and Cougar were down below already, working on their Target. Pooch helped hold the gangplank in place for Rafe and Jensen to get across. He looked as worried as Jensen felt.

“You’re bleeding, Ryan! When did this happen?”

She tried to wave it off, even going so far as to smile.

“It’s alright, Pooch. Happened just as we were making our getaway on the boat. It’s nothing.”

“You’re bleeding through Jensen’s hand, Ryan!”, Pooch panicked.

“Aisha’s got the helm, I’m taking Rafe down to see if Cougar can patch her up.”

“Nah, he’s got the Target. Don’t wanna be mixin’ that guy’s blood with hers. She’ll catch at least 4 STDs and possibly a couple other foreign ailments.”

Jensen rolled his eyes as he helped Rafe down the steps into the belly of the ship. He could hear Aisha and Pooch above, but ignored it. Rafe needed her side looked at and Jensen would feel a lot better getting her off her feet. He ducked them into a room with a pair of single beds on the two side walls, with a port hole across from the door. He gently moved Rafe onto the bed to his right, helping her lay back so as to use her ab muscles as little as possible.

“You stay here. I’m gonna grab Cougar’s med bag and be right back. Do you want something, some whiskey or maybe tequila?”

“Water would be good.”

“You’ve been shot and you want water?”

“Jensen, the med bag and a bottle of water. Go.”

He could hear the pain in her voice as he moved, nodding to himself as he rattled the list of things over and over. Med bag. Water. Some towels. Ice. Med bag, water, some towels, and ice. He had seen Cougar do this enough times, he figured he ought to be able to get through.

Several minutes later, he came back with the med bag, a couple bottles of water, some towels, ice, and a bottle of vodka, with Cougar trailing behind him. Cougar’s hands were gloved and bloody, and he kept them away from everything Jensen was carrying.

“Ryan, how bad is the pain?”, Cougar asked.

“I am still tempted to smack Jensen to get him to worry less and I really, really want to punch our Target.”

Cougar nodded as if she had just told him some majorly helpful piece of information. Jensen felt as if he were listening to them lapse into another language. He set everything out and began gathering the tools Cougar had told him to use, out in the hall.

“I’m gonna take a look while Jensen cleans the tools. Here, lift your shirt for me, I can’t touch you.”

She nodded, pulling up the torn top-half of her outfit to show her wound to Cougar. He came closer, pulling out his flashlight to look around in the hole.

“Bullet is still in there. Don’t think it got anything vital. Jensen, once you’ve got it out, if nothing gushes right at you, stitch, wipe, cover, tape, and wrap her middle as best you can. I’ll come check on you two when I’m done. If you can’t get the bullet out, call Pooch. Clay’s helping me hold our guest down while I work and Aisha’s got the helm.”

Jensen nodded, his hands shaking as he disinfected the tools with the vodka. Once Cougar was gone, Rafe reached over and caught Jensen’s one wrist in her hand. He stilled, looking up at her tired, sweaty face. She offered him a small smile.

“It’s alright Jensen. Take a breath.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. She grinned.

“You got this.”

“Yeah. Totally. I got this.”

She winked, then let go of his wrist and sat back, doing her best to control her breathing. A long time ago, she had learned to do self-hypnoses to the point she could picture her ‘happy place’ of a cabin in the snow-covered fir trees, and she could do it so effectively that she would have goosebumps from the cool mountain air. If she could get herself to that place now, she could bring down her heart rate and also dull the pain a bit better. Her adrenaline had worn down from the gun fight and she was really started to feel the bullet.

“You alright?”

“Just doing a breathing exercise, don’t worry. Not dying.”

“Okay. Yeah. Just uh… just checking.”

She looked over to see his shaking hands.

“Jensen, take a couple deep breaths and remember, Cougar wouldn’t have left you to this if you couldn’t do it.”

“Yeah.”, he nodded.

He worked carefully. There was no way to avoid hurting her, however Jensen wanted to at least make it as low-level of pain as possible. He also wished he could do it faster, but he wasn’t Cougar. He didn’t have the steely nerves, the sniper’s steady hand, or the confidence of years and years of patching teammates back together. Jensen was pretty good with splints and slings. He had even MacGyvered a litter for Pooch once when Pooch busted himself pretty badly at one point.

He had started with putting some ice on the edge of her wound while he got everything laid out. It slowed the bleeding, made the skin a little stiffer, and cut the pain a little. After that, he was able to get in and quickly get ahold of the bullet and begin extracting it. Thankfully, it came out with very little fighting and no real increase in blood flowing from the wound. When both of them had stopped shaking enough, Jensen began cleaning her up and stitching her up.

Jensen noticed Rafe’s white-knuckled grip on the headboard as she breathed her way through the pain. No one liked getting stitches. Jensen could personally attest to how badly getting a bullet wound stitched, could really suck. And he had been lucky enough to have Cougar as his seamstress.

“Jensen?”

He looked up to her face, looking for any indication that she was woozy or otherwise having something go on that he needed to yell for Cougar about. She was offering him a tired, somewhat pained smile, her dark brows pinched together, and her skin covered in a thick layer of sweat.

“Just breathe, Jensen. You’re doing good.”

“Thanks, but shouldn’t I be the one comforting you?”

She let out a breathy half-chuckle, her eyes drifting closed.

“It’s your first surgery, you need a cheerleader.”

“I bet you’d look great in the outfit.”

“You wouldn’t see it through the black eyes from your broken nose.”

He smiled, despite the situation. If she was teasing about committing violence against him, while smiling, she was probably going to be alright. Jensen still intended to get Cougar to come look over his handiwork before he finished wrapping her wounds.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Raphaelle woke to find herself on a thin bed, in a basement. Her whole body felt like she had been wrung out and her side hurt like a mother. She checked around, finding Jensen asleep in the bunk across the room from her. It all flooded back in an instant. The parade, the gunfight at the terrible party, the escape, getting shot, Jensen trying to take care of her side, then Cougar coming to look over Jensen’s stitching before Jensen would cover and wrap her wound. She had passed out while he was wrapping her around her stomach, so she wasn’t sure how long she had been out.

She took advantage of the moment of quiet and peace, to observe her nurse. His spiked up bleached tips were now a bit deflated and pointed at several angles. He had dark circles beneath his eyes and his glasses were laid out on the little end table at the head of his bed, along with his radio and jacket from his now blood and muck-covered suit. She missed the loud T-shirts and faded jeans he normally wore. The look suited him better.

He was well put together, that was undeniable. Raphaelle had always preferred guys with some meat on their bones, though she had never been particularly fond of guys who looked like body builders or Speedo models. She preferred a little softness. In a way, Jensen was soft, but not physically. He dressed like a 14 year old, he made jokes like a frat boy away from home for the first time, and flirted constantly, but he also watched his team when he thought no one was looking, he was gentle when pulling out a small laptop with satilite footage of Jolene and the kid for Pooch to be able to check in on them, and he lit up like a Christmas tree whenever he started talking about his beloved niece.

Clay had the weight of looking after ‘his men’ and it, along with the betrayal that had put his team on the Most Wanted lists, had turned him cold and hard in many ways. It seemed to constantly threaten to bury him. Aisha had been molded by an evil drug lord who loved her, then further changed by growing up without that love or the protection of having a powerful, dangerous man as your loving father. Pooch was still a cool, fairly calm man while Cougar was a quiet, steady, strong type who looked after his team like a guardian angel. Jensen was, in many ways, a big kid. But, shortly after joining this team, Raphaelle could see why he was so vital.

It was not just his computer skills, which were substantial and impressive. He was the heart of the team. He kept them hopeful, he made them laugh even at the worst of times, and he never gave up on any of them no matter how bleak the situation. He was fiercely loyal and wore his heart on his sleeve, covered only thinly by his humor and brightly colored attire.

She watched as he stirred a bit in his sleep. She had never noticed the slight bump at the bridge of his nose as if he might have broken it when he was younger. Raphaelle had noticed the tattoo on his right upper arm. A Chinese symbol, if she had to guess. It probably was supposed to mean something like Bravery or Romeo, but would actually translate to something goofy like Dogsitter or PrettyBoy. Raphaelle understood a couple languages, but not whichever one Jensen had inked himself with.

“Rafe?”

“Alive.”

Jensen pulled himself up, groggily, rubbing a hand down over his face. He looked as wrung out as she felt. She was also pretty sure the other nagging feeling at the pit of her stomach was guilt.

“Sorry I scared you.”

He smiled up at her, his eyes unfocused without his glasses.

“I’m just glad you’re alright. How’s the pain?”

She made a so-so gesture with her right hand, her left hovering over her injury.

“I’ll survive. Might not be doing any yoga for a bit.”

“You do yoga?”

She fixed him with a Look.

“What? You’re new to the team. I don’t know a whole lot about you.”

She smiled over at him, starting to allow that perhaps Jensen flirted as more of a habit or a way to deal with nervous energy and less because he was clueless about being friends without benefits. Having seen him as he was taking care of her, she had gotten to see a side of him she had not been willing to consider previously.

“I do Tai Chai, but I used to do yoga. Long time ago. You?”

He shrugged, his one hand searching for his glasses on the table.

“I played soccer in the back yard with my sister. Stretching beforehand with her was about as close to yoga as I ever got. I did some gymnastics as a kid.”

That explained a few things. Like how he so easily vaulted himself up onto things and leapt down from balconies. It also explained the smooth, graceful movements that made him easy to pick out from the rest of the team on a badly lit night mission.

“Can I check you side?”, he asked quietly, sliding his glasses on.

She nodded. Jensen moved over, coming to sit on the edge of her bed as she rolled up the torn edge of her shredded dress to allow him better access. For a couple minutes, he carefully looked over her wound, the wrap, and prodded around above and below her wound to make sure it didn’t feel hot to suggest infection, and that it didn’t hurt as if he had not done a good job.

His hands were not as rough as she would have expected. Possibly due to how much time he spent working on computers. He also was only 28, so not terribly older than herself. And this close, she could see that his eyes were not as blue as she had thought, with just a touch of teal to them so they were not true-blue. He also had ridiculously long lashes. It was not fair that a man had those kind of lashes.

“Anything feel worse than it should? The bandage alright, not to tight or anything?”

She shook her head. Reaching, Raphaelle held the back of Jensen’s hand.

“I promise, I’m all good, Jensen.”

He nodded, still looking worried.

“I had a nightmare that I’d woken up to find you had bled to death while I was sleeping. Can’t shake it.”

Raphaelle gave his hand a squeeze. When he once more met her gaze, she offered a smile.

“Can’t kill me that easily, Captain. I promise. Besides, I still have to get through another four months without decking you, before they ALL lose the bet.”

He smiled, the first real break in his mood. A slight chuckle escaped his lips as he sat back a little, finally seeming able to breathe again. He did not, however, let go of her hand.

“So you know about the bet?”

Raphaelle nodded.

“Overheard Pooch.”

Jensen nodded.

“I figured Clay was going to win. He had it at sometime between weeks 6 and 12, working with the team. No one bet under four weeks, as they at least gave us that much of a honeymoon period.”

Jensen’s eyebrows went up, then he grinned.

“A honeymoon, huh? I could go for that.”

“You kept me from bleeding to death, so just this once, I’m not going to break your hand.”

“Duly noted.”

“Good. Now, hand me that bottle of water and then get back in that bed, and for the love of the internet, get some decent sleep. You look like hell.”

“Gee, thanks.”, he muttered as he moved to get her bottle of water.

When she reached for it, she hissed through her teeth. Jensen sat the bottle aside, then moved to steel a blanket off the chair, shoving it behind her pillow to better prop her up. He then added his own pillow off his bed. Once she was propped up and not having to work her middle to stay that way, he got the bottle and helped hold it up so she could drink from it.

“Sorry to be so much trouble.”

He waved her off with a smile that had her heart skidding a bit in her chest. This wasn’t a smile meant to charm or show off in any way. It was a small, genuine smile.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re part of the team. This is what we do.”

“Still, thank you. You were a lot more gentle about it than you had to be. And we have’t exactly been buddy-buddy.”

“Well, we could start over. Maybe we just needed to be a tight, bad situation together. Now we can be friends.”

Raphaelle smiled up at him. She could get used to having friends again. To enjoying the time she spent with her team and feeling like she was part of something.

“I could very much like that, Captain.”

Jensen nodded.

“Good. Alright, I’m going to go tell Cougar that you woke up and are talking like you’re pretty clear-headed, and that you had some water. Then I’ll hit the hay.”

“Good idea.”

With that, he was up and out. Raphaelle chuckled to herself about how silly she was being. Settling back into the bed, and carefully chucking Jensen’s pillow back into the middle of his bed, she closed her eyes and allowed herself to drift off. She wouldn’t be alone, as Jensen would be back in the cot across from her. Soon enough, her side would heal, and she would continue to work with this crazy group. Smiling, Raphaelle was sure that she could get used to being part of a team again.


	2. Sparring

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Months down the road from the mission that earned Rafe a new scar, Clay has a new target with valuable information. A tech genius guru. Jensen is the perfect faceman for the op, but he'll need a second. Meanwhile, things are still a bit tense between Clay and Aisha, Pooch still misses his wife and son, while Cougar watches out for everyone. Then, it will be time for another step in the mission to clear their names and take down Max.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Breaking glass as a cover, pretending to be slightly drunk, being scanned TSA style.

Jensen circled, keeping his shoulders loose, his eyes on his opponent. They had been at this a while and he was starting to feel it, the sweat rolling between his shoulder blades. He had opted for going without his glasses, though he could still see well enough to tell he wasn’t the only one pouring sweat.

“You ready?”

He grinned at her challenge.

“Any time, Ray Rye.”

She rolled her eyes before ducking his punch, spinning backward to slap his butt on her way out of his reach.

“Sassy!”, he teased.

She shrugged with a grin.

Ever since he had stitched up her side six months ago, the two of them had gotten along much better. And they were officially at the point where they had ruined the bets for the whole team, except for Cougar, who had won almost 1,000 dollars from the other team members. He had bet Raphaelle wouldn’t punch Jensen at all in the first year with the team and that they wouldn’t have sex that whole first year either. Jensen didn’t mind Cougar winning. At least, not the first bet, the second stung a little.

The two continued to spar for a while, teasing and joking as they did so, until Jensen finally got where he wanted. He caught Raphaelle’s arm and spun, bringing her down to the ground to pin her. Except she twisted at the last second, tipping his balance so they landed on his side instead of her back. She shifted her foot, rolling him onto his stomach, holding his one arm so in a real fight, she could easily have broken it in two places. She leaned, whispering in his ear.

“Best out of three?”

“No.”, he waved with his pinned arm, mostly succeeding in wiggling his hand. “I’m done. Stick a fork in me- but not really, cause that’d hurt.”

With that, she smiled and got up, offering Jensen her hand to help him up. Jensen grinned up at her from his position on the floor and quickly swept her feet. She hopped, evading his attempt to get her fall onto the mat with him.

“Cheeky.”, she teased, but still offered him a hand up.

He took the hand, letting her pull him up. They grabbed their towels and headed towards the showers at this little gym they were using while they were in Georgia. Clay had a lead on someone who could help them get their names cleared, and they were all waiting for Clay to get back from what he said might be a couple day trip.

An hour later, Jensen and Raphaelle sat with Pouch and Cougar. Aisha had gone with Clay, despite the Colonel’s protests. All four remaining team members had gotten a patio table at a local pub-style eatery with a great view of a historic town area where cars weren’t allowed to drive and the digital security was at a minimum. As usual, Cougar sat where he had the best view of the whole scene and all the entrances/exits for the patio, Pooch was slouched forward in his seat as he perused the menu, Jensen was relaxed back with a cold beer in hand, and Raphaelle reclined a bit in the shadiest seat the beach umbrella above them could offer.

“Any word from Clay?”, Pooch asked.

They all shook their heads.

“I don’t like him and Aisha going alone, together.”

“Afraid they’ll come back expecting a little Colonel?”, Jensen joked.

Cougar chuckled as he shook his head, his fingers twirling his bottle of beer.

“Don’t even joke about that, Jensen. Imagine their kid. He’d scare the shit out of Max.”

Jensen’s eyes lit up. Cougar and Raphaelle shared a fondly exasperated look across the table.

“That might be perfect, if we could figure out how to rapid-age the kid to grow up to be old enough to fight Max.”

“But”, Raphaelle interjected, “this is not STAR TREK, so let’s not rapid age people. Was hard enough on Spock and he didn’t have to deal with Aisha or the Colonel’s issues.”

Jensen grinned like a kid at Christmas.

“I love it when you go Trekkie.”

Pooch made a fake-gagging sound.

“Oh, get a room, already.”

Jensen clicked his teeth like a disapproving grandmother.

“Pooch, is that any way to talk in front of a lady?”

“Call me a lady again, and I’ll make you sing like one.”

Cougar grinned at them all before quietly sipping his beer.

“Pooch, why is it only hostile women work with us?”, Jensen asked.

“Revenge for us allowing you to join, probably.”

“That was hurtful.”, Jensen joked back with a fake kicked-puppy look, before he tossed rolled up straw paper at Pooch.

The waitress arrived with their appetizers and a refill on Raphaelle’s sweet tea. If she was going to be in the blasted southern heat and humidity, she was going to have good tea at least. Cougar and Jensen shared giant chicken nacho dish while Pooch and Raphaelle were splitting a mixed-plate of quesadillas, loaded potato skins, and spicy wings with various things to dip the three items into. If the Colonel and Aisha had been there, Raphaelle and Aisha would have split the appetizer of just the beef quesadillas. None of the guys liked the thing, so it had been up to them to share with each other.

“Any thoughts where we’ll go next?”, Jensen asked the table.

“I just hope it’s someplace that has good fishing. I’ve been itching to go, and you know Clay always agrees cause he always wanted to go too.”, Pooch offered.

Cougar nodded thoughtfully as he chewed. Jensen dove in for more nachos.

“I just want it to be somewhere not so blasted hot and sticky. I hear Mercury is nice this time of year.”

Pooch and Cougar both shook their heads with smiles, while Jensen fixed her with an odd look.

“But where will you get your good sweet tea?”

Raphaelle let out a low growl.

“Dangit. You’re right.”

“You can cuss, Ryan, we aren’t schoolkids and my son isn’t around.”

She smiled over at Pooch.

“Sorry, ingrained habit. Wasn’t allowed to cuss at home and my mentor wasn’t fond of it either, and knowing I hated running laps, that’s what I got to do when I cussed in his presence.”

“Ew, harsh!”, Jensen called.

The rest of their meal passed in pleasant conversation and joking. Jensen enjoyed it. The life they lead was dangerous, thrilling, and hard, but in the moments like this, where he could cut up with his team over a shared meal, he remembered why he wouldn’t have it any other way.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Clay looked between his two team mates, unsure about this plan. Jensen had to get close enough to some computers at a tech giant’s home and had been able to secure an invite for two, to the man’s corporate party. Thankfully, the tech genius had a thing about his parties being tech-free, no cell phones, no smart watches, no FitBits, and no cameras of any sort. Even wrist watches and glasses were scanned to ensure they had no hidden function or tech.

The plan was fairly simple. Jensen and Ryan would pretend to be a couple, with Jensen being the techy-one who had recently been recruited to work for their target- _Mr.Winston_ \- and Ryan would be the not-so-tech-savvy wife who worked selling insurance plans to companies with under 1,000 employees. Once inside, Jensen was supposed to get the guys distracted talking about techy-things while Aisha talked Ryan through the blue prints of the house and into a panic room where Ryan would hook a flashdrive in and steal some information just the way Jensen had been training her to do for a week.

Clay checked the hearing aids they had given Ryan. She was naturally hearing impaired and did wear a hearing aid in her right ear to have normal hearing, as her left ear was unaffected. Tonight, she would be wearing them in both ears, and since she Signed flawlessly, they knew she could pass as having a real need for them and that would get her past the security at the door because the left hearing aid had a small switch she could flick to turn it into a two-way radio instead of a hearing aid. With a quick touch, she could return it to the hearing aid function, so it would not scan as a radio or any kind of Blu tooth.

“I don’t like it.”, Aisha said for the umpteenth time.

“Again, noted.”, Clay responded as he handed Ryan the left hearing aid.

“You remember how it works?”

“Yeah, I tap that little piece there that looks like the drawstring used for pulling it out of my ear, to turn it into a radio. If I feel I’m about to be caught, I can pull it out and flip the little toggle back, making it a normal hearing aid again as far as any scans would show. Don’t worry, Clay. I won’t let you guys down.”

“I know, I know. Just checking.”

She nodded, not looking the least bit offended. Jensen came over, dressed in a very nice suit that Cougar and Clay had tailored to fit their tech-wizard for tonight. The dark blue was a good color and Ryan had showed up the night before with a tie she got somewhere in the nearby town, the pewter and copper diagonal stripes of it set against the bolder blues made it go well with the suit and fit with current fashions. Clay wasn’t sure where she got it or where she learned to pick out ties so well, he was just glad she had done it so he didn’t stick a plain red or black tie on Jensen and call it a day.

Looking, Clay noticed Ryan fixing the tie on Jensen’s neck, straightening it and tidying the knot a bit. It was clear to him that something had shifted between the two, recently. They still kidded with each other, often with Ryan threatening violence against Jensen and Jensen doing his worst flirting, yet there was a softness that had not previously been there. He hoped, for all their sakes, it worked out better for them that things had been working between he and Aisha lately.

“Clay, car’s ready.”

He smiled. Speak of the Devil.

“Alright you two, your ride is prepped and waiting.”, he informed Jensen

The two walked over towards the car. Clay noticed, for the first time tonight, that in 4in heels, Ryan was actually taller than Jensen. He did the math in his head. Jensen was 6ft even in his socks, while Ryan wasn’t much shorter than that when she walked around in her bare feet. Judging by the chuckling Pooch was doing, Clay wasn’t the only one to notice.

“Hey Jensen!”

Jensen turned, quickly shoving the nose of his glasses up while he held Ryan’s door for her.

“Yeah, Pooch?”

“Looks like you’re gonna be Ryan’s shorty tonight!”

Jensen arched an eyebrow, seemingly confused while Ryan spun to flip Pooch off before sliding into the back seat of the car. Cougar, tucked into the driver’s seat with his cap and suit on, shook his head.

“Children. We work with children.”, Aisha grumbled beside Clay.

“Ain’t that the truth.”

Pooch, Clay, and Aisha waited by the computers in their temporary HQ, keeping track of the vehicle and the eyes they had on the party thanks to some hacking Jensen had done earlier. Clay would have preferred to have kept Jensen at the helm of the computer stuff and to send in Aisha and Ryan or Cougar and Pooch, with himself nearby to help if-needed. However, none of them could pass for real techies in that crowd. At least, no one except Jensen. And, if worse came to worse, Jensen could cause more problems on-site than remotely, for this tech-genius they were targeting.

He felt Aisha’s hand drift to his thigh under the table, giving him a quick squeeze before she pointed with her free hand to where Cougar, Jensen, and Ryan’s car had just showed up on the traffic cameras Jensen had hacked.

“There they are.”

Clay let out a breath. In about five minutes, they would know if Jensen’s little fake-hearing aid would pass the snuff test or not. He was really hoping that this mission didn’t stumble on the first steps.

The three of them watched as Cougar pulled into place, getting Ryan’s door while a staff member got Jensen’s. From what they could see at the somewhat awkward angle, Jensen looked just like all the other wealthy, intelligent, nerdy dudes who had arrived so-far, and Ryan looked much like most of the wives. Jensen waited for her at the bottom of the stairs, offering her his elbow and laying his free hand over hers when she took the offered arm.

“Smooth, Jensen.”, Pooch muttered.

They watched the two enter and then they were on their own. A minute later, Cougar came over the comms.

“Package delivered.”

Clay pulled up his radio.

“Stay put. Now we wait.”

Meanwhile, inside, Jensen was taking it all in. There were so many people there who he knew by face, name, or reputation. More than a few had appeared on magazines Clay and the others had never read but Jensen had subscribed to. He was feeling a bit starstruck as Raphaelle covertly tugged him along with her to get him further inside. The man who had gotten Jensen’s door, an impressive thug in a suit with an earpiece straight out of a 90s Secret Service movie, lead them over to some metal-detector looking machines. Several guests ahead of them, were walking through once they had handed over their watches, purses, glasses, and other items.

“You’ll need to be scanned. If you have a cell phone or any smart devices, you will need to turn them over and receive a claim ticket. This includes keys with whistle-locating devices.”

He brought Jensen and Raphaelle over to a line on the far end of the room, that was moving swiftly. Another man in a suit, this one looking less like the Hulk and more like Jeeves, came up with a tray in hand. He smiled pleasantly up at Jensen and Raphaelle. Unlike all the guards and such they had encountered so far, he seemed to either take no notice or no oddness at Raphaelle’s impressive height as she stood at 6’2 in her heels beside Jensen.

“I’ll need to collect all the scannable items. Wallets, purses, glasses, jewelry, watches, and pens.”

Jensen pulled out his wallet, laying it down just ahead of his watch, glasses, wedding ring, and a case with his brand new, totally fake business cards. The man smiled as he took them, then indicated with a tilt of his head for Jensen to step through the machines.

“See you on the other side, babe.”, Jensen teased Raphaelle.

He stepped through, setting nothing off. Jeeves’s twin brought the tray over as a female staffer in a similar outfit with her own silver tray, stepped up to Raphaelle.

“Miss, I’ll need your handbag, jewelry, and watch – if you’re wearing one.”

Raphaelle nodded. She handed over the small clutch on a string as well as the simple silver bracelet she wore, the silver necklace, her clip-on earrings, and the new wedding band/engagement ring combo Clay had gotten she and Jensen. That done, she passed through the detectors and the lights flashed without any verbal alarm. Raphaelle looked up at the machine in confusion, barely catching the slight look of panic crossing Jensen’s face as she turned to the maid.

“I don’t understand? I’m not wearing a watch or anything?”

Another man came out, this one in something that screamed SECURITY instead of looking like a butler. He had a wand in hand and began scanning her one body area at a time, starting with her feet and working his way up and out. When he reached her head, the lights on his wand flashed. The young woman who still had Raphaelle’s purse and jewelry, came over to her with her eyes narrowed a bit.

“Miss, are you wearing something at your ears?”

Raphaelle let her mouth open in an O, then thought of something that always made her blush, ensuring her face would pinken.

“Oh, my hearing aids!”

The maid, Jeeves, and the two guests nearby all looked a bit shamed, while the security dude with a wand seemed irritated, shifting his weight back on one foot as he sighed dramatically.

“She said all tech, ma’am.”, he growled.

“I’m sorry. I handed over my jewelry and didn’t have a watch.”

She took the hearing aids out and the man wanded them, the sensor lighting up. The maid and Jeeves exchanged a look. Jeeves spoke up.

“It’s probably the amplifier, the wand thinks it’s a radio or something. We should let Mr.Winston’s guest have her devices.”

Raphaelle slid them back in, smiling at Jeeves.

“Thank you. I’m almost as deaf as a post without them. I don’t wish to embarrass my husband at his first company event.”

Jensen took his cue, stepping in and wrapping an arm around the small of waist, smiling softly at her.

“It’s alright, babe. You don’t have to worry about it, come on. Get your stuff and let’s go mingle, huh?”

She smiled at him the way she imagined a newlywed who lucked into a rich dude, might smile, clipping her jewelry back on as Jensen reached for her purse for her and led her away from the scanners. Once they were away from Jeeves, the Maid, and the grumpy security guard, Jensen blew out a breath.

“Thought we were done for.”, he whispered in her ear.

“Nah, although I guess that sensor was more sensitive than we originally thought.”, she answered in kind.

They walked out to the party and began mingling. Raphaelle wanted to scream by the third group Jensen had inserted himself into. He could chat about processors and data speeds until the cows came home, and do it with gusto. Raphaelle had stopped paying attention in computer classes at school when she failed Typing in third grade.

Once everyone seemed focused on Jensen, Raphaelle gently flicked the little knob on her left hearing aid to activate the two-way radio. She would need to get Cougar in place so he could get her the flashdrive.

“Ryan,” Clay started, “sigh if you can hear me.”

She let out a sigh, covered with her hand to make onlookers assume she was yawning. Thankfully, they all seemed too engrossed in Jensen’s talking about some new fangle transfer piece that could do something with encryption. Latin made far more sense to her than anything he was saying.

“Tap your earpiece twice for no, once for yes. Can you sneak off?”

She carefully tapped it once.

“Good. Let me know when you’re in place. Cougar, showtime.”

Jensen didn’t have an earpiece and would likely be unaware of the exchange, so Raphaelle reached, rubbing her hand up and down the small of his back as she leaned in close to his ear.

“Hitting the head. Be back in five.”

He smiled over at her, pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek.

“Hurry back, babe.”, he said sweetly and loudly enough for the men on either side of him to have heard it.

Raphaelle smiled and then turned to walk off. She went as if she were heading to bathroom until she got to the hallway where the restroom was on the left and the offshoot leading to Mr.Winston’s office was to the right. Checking to make sure no one was following her and that she still had enough champagne in her glass to be able to improvise with it later, she headed for the office. A minute later, she was standing near the office’s little window, opening it for Cougar. Next, she removed a picture directly across from the window.

“I’m in place, Colonel. Cougar, let’r rip.”

She heard a slight swooshing sound and then a quiet smack as a short bolt from a crossbow hit the wall near her. Attached to the bolt was a baggie containing a flashdrive. She plucked the bolt from the wall, replacing the photo to cover the new hole in the wall. Flashdrive in hand, she began running through the protocol Jake had been teaching her for the past week. She typed exactly what he had coached her to type and when, then selected the necessary files to download. It would take about four minutes for everything to download.

Raphaelle knew she could be seen from the small glass panels in the office door, so she moved to the corner of the room where she would be hidden in the dark as she counted down in her head. When she was at three-minutes, she moved back over to the computer. 18 seconds later, the download was complete. She pulled the flashdrive and slid it into her bra before closing down the computer with the new virus in place Jake had loaded into the flashdrive. It would break down all the anti-virus on the computer, allowing all sorts of pop-up ads and the like to clog up his computer and helping hide the data transfer she had just done.

“Clay, download done and I’m heading out.”

“Good. Tell Jensen he’s got thirty minutes and then you two will need to head home because he’s sick.”

“Got it.”

She quickly tossed the bolt out the window for Cougar to get, then closed up the window and replaced the chair, then checked the hall. The coast was clear. She walked out and was almost to the bathroom when she heard footsteps that did not belong to anyone in heels and a skirt. She would have to move fast since she would not make it to the bathroom before this person spotted her. Raphaelle let herself drop, her champagne glass breaking as she did, and carefully knocking her right hearing aid out. Clay and the team could still hear her through the left one.

“Hey! What are you doing back here?”, a man’s voice snapped.

Raphaelle made like she was panicked as she turned to look. It was the security guard from earlier.

“I tripped on my way to the bathroom and… I’m afraid I broke my glass. And now I can’t find my hearing aid.”, she said somewhat loudly, to emphasize that she couldn’t hear without them.

The guard groused under his breath before tapping his earpiece.

“I got a drunk chic back near the boss’s office. Broke her drink and it’s all over the mahogany. Send Nispers up here, NOW.”

He looked down at her.

“Get up, let’s go find your husband.”

Raphaelle started to move up onto her knees and then let her face go wide with excitement as she pretended to just-now spot her hearing aid.

“There it is!”, she explained before scooping it up and wiping her fingers over it and then sliding it into place.

“All better now.”, she beamed at the grumpy security guard.

“I said get up.”

She complied, allowing him to practically shove her 24 inches at a time, all the way out to where Jensen was still regaling some guys in their 40s with some new piece of tech he had encountered a couple weeks ago. The guard pushed right into the group.

“Your wife was in an area that’s off-limits. The two of you will need to leave. Now.”

Jensen seemed taken aback, still in-character.

“Come again?”

“Sorry, honey. I got lost on the way to the bathroom and I broke a glass when I slipped on the polished floors.”

“And she spilled champagne on the mahogany.”, the guard added.

“Oh, I’m sorry.”, Jensen offered before looking at her.

“Babe, you okay? Did you cut yourself or anything?”

She shook her head and he tucked her into his side as if she were skittish schoolgirl in the midst of bullies.

“I’m sorry. Please tell Mr.Winston we won’t cause him any trouble at the next party?”

They walked out with her pretending to duck her head in shame and embarrassment as they made their way out. The whole time, Raphaelle had been able to hear Clay rushing Cougar to get back to the car before someone called for him to pick up his employers. He had gotten into place just in time and was able to pull the car around to get them. Jensen still got Raphaelle’s door and then slid in beside her. Cougar pulled out gently, not giving any indication they were in a hurry to get out of Dodge.

“What happened?”, Cougar asked first.

“I couldn’t get back to the bathroom before I was going to be discovered so I made like a buzzed trophy wife.”

“Where’s the flashdrive?”, Clay asked over the comm, which they could hear from Cougar’s radio up front.

“In my bra.”

Jensen’s eyes went wide as Cougar chuckled up front.

“Good. We’ll be here when you three come home.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Raphaelle was combing her hair as Jensen walked into the cheap motel room she and he were sharing. Cougar and Pooch had the next room, Aisha and Clay were across the hall. Two doubles with Queen beds and one with a King, their usual if they could find and afford it.

They had come right back and Jensen had worked beside Clay and Aisha for a couple hours, going through everything on the flashdrive. Raphaelle, once she saw that it had worked, left to strip out the bright blue dress and get all the pins out of her hair. Jensen had barely gotten to do any more than undo his tie as he worked beside Clay and Aisha. Now, back in their shared room, he could finally peel out of all the required layers. Yet, the view in front of him was too rare though and had distracted him completely.

Raphaelle was carefully now braiding her hair over one shoulder, her eyes closed as she listened to whatever was playing on the little radio she had on the edge of the counter. It sounded like soundtrack music to Jensen. Her long fingers worked neatly in her dark hair, her oversized baseball shirt swayed a little due to the breeze filtering in through the window she had cracked open. Long, muscular legs were bare against the Southern heat their air conditioner couldn’t dispel.

“You gonna stare all night, or you gonna change?”, she teased with a small smirk.

“I don’t know, pretty tempting to just stay here and enjoy the show.”

She opened her eyes as she turned to look at him through the mirror. Jensen was pretty sure he would never tire of their banter.

“Get your scrawny arse in here, and get out of that suit.”

“What is it with me in suits? Does it get you hot and bothered, so you want me out of them so as to allow you to maintain your self-control?”, he teased as he made his way to the bathroom, removing his jacket as he went.

“You look uncomfortable, that’s why I don’t like them. Jensen ought to be in some weird, bright shirt with faded blue jeans that are just a little too loose, and beat up sneakers.”

He hummed in appreciation of her recounting his usual attire.

“Here.”, she handed him a hanger for the suit and a second for the shirt and tie to go on.

“Thanks.”

Raphaelle walked out of the bathroom, allowing him enough space to disrobe without elbowing her or tripping over her. Meanwhile, she flipped on the little radio on the bedside table and changed it to a country station playing top 20 countdowns from the mid-90s. Jensen shook his head. Sometimes Raphaelle’s southern origins were easier to spot that others.

Once Jensen was in his boxers and sleeveless shirt he slept in these days, he headed into the bedroom area to find Raphaelle staring out the window. He joined her, looking to see if he could spot what had her so transfixed.

“Look at the water down there.”, she instructed, pointing to a man-made canal.

Jensen looked, seeing what appeared to be dancing rainbows. It was just a reflection from all the little neon lights in all the windows but the effect was musical rainbows glittering on the surface of the canal. They watched for a couple minutes before Raphaelle yawned, drawing a chuckle from Jensen. He pressed a gentle kiss to her temple.

“Come to bed.”, he whispered.

She nodded, allowing him to tug her along gently by the fingers of one hand. They settled in with Jensen facing the door and Raphaelle curled behind him, spooning him with her warm cheek between his shoulder blades. Jensen smiled. He could get used to this being how he slept. Moving a hand down to rest over the one covering his belly button, Jensen gave her hand a small squeeze.

“Goodnight, Raphaelle.”

“Night, Jensen.”

He smiled, allowing himself to drift off to sleep. They had an early wake-up in the morning, to head off to the next mission. They would need their sleep. Jensen thought about what it would be like when they were finally free, their names cleared and ranks restored. It would be good to dream about that.

“Jensen?”

“Yeah?”, he muttered.

“Stop thinking. Go to sleep.”

He grinned, pulling her hand up to give it a kiss.

“Yes, ma’am.”


	3. Dreams and Reflections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team hits another bump in the road to Max. Clay has some dark thoughts about their chances. Jensen is a really good hacker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Triggers: Mentions dying in a trap, dying in a fire (no details), and worrying about your friends. Aisha and Clay fight, Clay drinks too much and discusses possibly dying from alcohol-related stomach issues. Mentions liver transplants. Nightmares/PTSD.

Year Two With the Team

Aisha and Raphaelle waited by the bar. The mission was simple. They were to wait, let Cougar bring the target in, then distract his bodyguards for a couple minutes until Clay gave them the all-clear. Jensen, Clay, and Pooch were outside, just in case things went bad.

Their target was a very terrible guy who was a big part of Max’s operation. From what Jensen had pulled up, the guy was responsible for about 29% of the total worth of Max’s criminal empire. If they took him out of the equation and dropped him off with a local group of somewhat-government-recognized vigilantes, then Max would be missing a large tentpole of his empire.

Aisha had on a short, deep red dress that showed off her legs and back as she ran a perfectly manicured crimson nail around the rim of her whiskey glass. Her hair and makeup were perfect, making her look like a beautiful woman out for the evening rather than a renegade assassin. Raphaelle had to admit, any guy who could get through the room without being distracted by the former-assassin, had to be in need of glasses. Or they had better training than she did for pretending to ignore the presence of a potential threat.

Raphaelle was never that great at playing the seductress. In fact, her skill had always been for remaining unnoticed. But with a black dress, heels, sporting a little makeup, and taking her cues from Aisha, she figured she could get the job done.

“Heads up ladies. Side entrance.”, came Clay’s voice in their earpieces.

“Got him. He’s heading towards the blackjack table. Cougar, time to shine.”, Aisha said quietly as she looked at the room through the mirrored background of the bar, her glass obscuring her lips from any prying eyes.

Cougar slid in, looking dashing in his tailored suit. His hair was back and Aisha had even talked him into shaving everything except his mustache so that he would look a bit more in line with the clientele of the gambling establishment where they were going to kidnap this piece of trash.

“Lookin’ good, Cougar.”, they heard Jensen tease.

There were a few cameras for the owner’s personal security. Jensen had hacked them and was helping keep an eye on everyone’s backs for them. Clearly, he still intended to have a little fun.

Aisha rolled her eyes before finishing her whiskey. She signaled the bar tender for a refill, then growled a bit to Raphaelle.

“I hate your boyfriend.”

“No, you don’t.”, Raphaelle responded, “And technically, he’s not my boyfriend.”

“That’s hurtful.”, they both heard Jensen respond.

“No one asked you.”, Aisha harshly whispered.

Raphaelle nudged Aisha’s shoulder. Cougar was making his move. They needed to be alert for the opportune moment to slip in and distract the bodyguards.

Cougar got in beside their Target. They acknowledge each other with slight nods as the dealer started up a new game with both the Target and Cougar playing this hand. It gave Raphaelle flashes of many James Bond movies she had seen as a kid.

The first hand went to a third party, the second to Cougar. The third and fourth went to other players, but the next two after that went to Cougar. Their Target was beginning to get irritated. Good.

Aisha leaned, whispering to Raphaelle, “One more hand and this guy is going to implode.”

Raphaelle smiled. Sure enough, the next hand went to a third party and their Target looked like he was about to blow a gasket. It was time for Cougar to make his move.

Their Target went to reach and place his bet. Cougar tipped his drink, letting it ‘accidently’ spill scotch on the Target’s white jacket sleeve. The Target began to throw a fit and Cougar offered to get him to another room and clean up the jacket before it stained.

Cougar tugged, pulling the man along with him towards the bathroom. Aisha moved to catch the attention of the shorter, senior bodyguard. Once she locked eyes with him, the man was under her spell. Raphaelle moved towards the taller, junior bodyguard, letting her fingers trail down his shoulder and along the seam of his sleeve.

“Can we buy you two some drinks?”, Aisha asked in the most seductive tone Raphaelle had ever heard from the assassin.

Before the man could respond, however, a loud explosion rocked the room. The lights shorted out and everyone screamed as they ducked, dove, and danced around to avoid each other, tables, and fallen beverages. Clay was talking in their earpieces, trying to figure out what happened and if the three of them were alright inside.

Aisha and Raphaelle were both tucked under a table, back-to-back. Raphaelle had her revolver in her left hand, a small knife in her right. Aisha had a pistol in each hand. Raphaelle had tucked her gun to her inner thigh and her knife had been hidden in the back of her bra strap, she had no idea how Aisha had smuggled two pistols in considering the slip of a dress she had worn.

“Aisha, Ryan – we’re heading to the back. Cougar and the Target will be behind you. Jensen’s got the wheel.”

The two women moved, understanding the plan. Jensen was going to drive them out, Pooch and Clay would have the team covered in case anyone made to follow them out or stop them. Aisha took the lead, Raphaelle moved in behind her as they made their way to Cougar and the Target, using the dim lights from behind the bar to guide them towards the rear exit.

One of the bodyguards made to come after them. Raphaelle cracked him over the head with the butt of her revolver. He went down like a ton of bricks. Quickly, Raphaelle moved to catch back up with Aisha.

She found Cougar dragging the unconscious Target, and Aisha knocking out a security guy in the back. Raphaelle did a swift turn, scanning the smoky room behind them to make sure no one was popping up to follow them. Cougar looked up to check. She nodded to let him know they were clear.

They burst through the back door to find Clay and Pooch armed and waiting, with Jensen behind the wheel of their getaway van, the sliding door left open for them to jump in. Pooch ushered them, helping Cougar get the Target in behind Aisha. Raphaelle tapped Clay’s shoulder when they had the Target hooked up in the back, then she slid in behind the driver’s seat. Aisha was in the rear bench seat with Cougar, their Target chained in the back end without a comfy seat.

Clay waited till Pooch had gotten into the seat behind the passenger before sliding into the shotgun seat and ordering Jensen off. Their resident hacker took off like a bat out of Hell until they got to the main road, where he slowed to match the legal speed. No sense attracting any unwanted attention from the local police.

Their van carried a logo for a lawn company, ensuring no one paid too much attention to them as Jensen leisurely drove back towards where they had left the car they would trade off to. Clay looked ready to bite through rail ties.

“Who the hell was that?”

Cougar shrugged, Pooch chewed his lip as he was clearly thinking. Aisha let out a sigh from the back as she let her head fall back. That got Clay’s attention instantly.

“Aisha?”

“It’s the classic M.O. for Barnaby.”

“Barnaby? The Barnaby, war criminal and former bounty-hunter?”

“One and the same.”

Pooch looked confusedly between their leader and the assassin. Cougar was muttering in Spanish. Raphaelle looked up to Jensen, his eyes checking on everyone through the rearview mirror.

“Care to fill us in?”, Pooch asked as Jensen rounded another turn.

Clay fell back into his seat, a leather-clad hand rubbing down over his face.

“Roake and me tangled with Barnaby, back when he was just a bounty-hunter. Worked internationally, took out a lot of drug kingpins, cartel bigwigs, and various crime lords. Then, he hooked up with this third-rate general in some little country that doesn’t technically exist anymore, and he helped the guy stage a coup, take over, and torture people who resisted, people who backed the wrong guy, and sometimes people who didn’t bow fast enough, lower their eyes enough, or breathed wrong when the general passed by them. When the general he was working for, was killed a couple years ago, Barnaby started bounty hunting again. Except, as a wanted criminal himself, he can’t just turn people over to the UN or such. He gets contracts from other, larger criminals to go after thorns in their sides.”

“And he likes explosions. Loves big bangs, confusing the crowd, big shows of force, and lots of drama.”, Aisha added.

“And he wants our guy, why? Someone else moving against Max?”

“Or, he was there for us.”

Everybody looked back at Aisha.

“Max could have hired him to come after us. If he guessed Raphaelle and I would be in there, coming after the two of us would be a perfect way to draw the rest of you into a trap. Max has to know you’re all the type to do anything, no matter how stupid or suicidal, to protect the ladies on the team.”

Raphaelle was sure she hadn’t imagined the slight, biting sarcasm to the last bit of that statement. Frankly, she figured most of the guys would go farthest to save each other, since Aisha hadn’t been one of them and Raphaelle hadn’t either. This Barnaby could kidnap Cougar, Pooch, or Aisha- the result would be the same, everyone still standing would burn the world down if that’s what it took to get their teammate back.

“Well, we’ve got out target and we have a rendezvous to get to with him. We can worry about Barnaby in a couple hours when we’ve finished with out guy in the rear.”

Everyone nodded at Clay’s plan. Raphaelle knew he was right, though the tension in the too-quiet van let her know that no one liked it.

“Alright.”, Jensen seemed to say to himself before playing with the radio.

Suddenly, a 90s station was playing very loudly through the whole vehicle. Cougar chuckled and settled back. Pooch groused and tried to cover his ears with his gloves, while Clay ignored everyone in favor of looking out the side glass. Raphaelle was about to suggest lowering the volume when a knife flew through the air to impale the radio.

Jensen sputtered, growling about manners and the homicidal tendencies of his teammates. Raphaelle just smiled to herself and reclined a little to try to get a few minutes of sleep. Her new team were all kind of crazy but she wouldn’t trade them for all the pearls in Tiffany’s.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~

Raphaelle couldn’t sleep. Jensen was twitching a bit in his sleep and in the next bunk, Pooch was muttering to himself in his dreams. She looked to see Cougar was lightly dosing in the corner with his gun in his lap and hat pulled down to shield his face from the small light they had left on in the basement they were sleeping in.

Aisha and Clay were both missing from their shared bunk. It was Clay’s turn to keep watch, so it made sense he was absent. If Aisha was also absent, Raphaelle had three guesses where the assassin was- having sex with Clay someplace that still let them keep watch, out for a 4AM run, or blowing off steam from the latest spat between she and Clay.

Carefully, Raphaelle disentangled herself from the warm octopus known as Jensen, and made her way out. Cougar woke enough to look at her. She waved him off and smiled. He gave a nod, then returned to sleeping lightly under his hat.

When she got up high enough in the house boat they were hiding out in, she could tell where Clay was. He had something in a glass bottle and was drinking from it. His shift would be over in a few minutes, so Raphaelle figured she might as well go up to spell him so he could take his drink down below to finish it off.

Raphaelle grabbed a cold cola out of the fridge in the kitchen and headed up to the widow’s walk style mini-porch on the roof. With her being on the shady side of it, she and Clay would be hard to pick out until well after sunrise.

“Mornin’.”, she greeted Clay as she moved to slide into the space between his bottle and the railing.

She had to sit cross-legged in order not to have her feet and lower legs hanging from over the edge. Slowly, she sipped on her soda and waited. Clay was holding a photo, worn and tattered, that had the whole team. Roake was still standing beside Clay back when it had been taken, and there was another guy on the team who had been killed in action shortly after the photo was taken. Jensen and Pooch had talked about the fallen team member on a couple of occasions.

“Why are you up here, Ryan?”

She gave him a small smile.

"Your boundless energy and constant stream of conversation."

Clay arched an eyebrow at her.

"I think you've got me confused for your boyfriend."

Raphaelle shrugged.

"I doubt that you're tired enough to have missed the sarcastic tone, Colonel, so what gives?"

He let out a long sigh, then took a long drink, pouring his refill before speaking.

"She left."

Clay tipped the drink back again and Raphaelle nodded, needing no further elaboration. Clay and Aisha fought as much as they spoke. The whole group was used to it.

“The whole team, or your relationship?"

Clay shrugged, pouring another drink since he had finished the last one that quick.

"Liver transplants can be a bit harder to come by, and recover from, when one is on the run."

He gave her a dark smile before taking another long sip of his drink.

"If I'm lucky, my stomach lining won't be able to take the pressure and I'll bleed to death in one night from an erupted stomach ulcer."

She nodded, making a little bit of a face.

"Gee, what a fun way to go. I'd have thought you would want to get shot protecting one of your men. Or maybe die facing down some impossible odds to protect innocents. Something a little bit more heroic than self-inflicted misery."

He looked up sharply at her, then his looked softened to something bleaker.

"You ever consider how this is likely to end, Raphaelle?"

That gets her attention, as the Colonel and the whole team except Jensen, all call her by her last name due to their military backgrounds.

"We are wanted. Worldwide. We have a guy who doesn't exist, gunning for us. A man who owns people in the White House, the Kremlin, 110 Dounton, and world over. We'll either end up dead in one of his traps or we'll each get picked off over the course of years. We already lost Roake. We almost lost Pooch. And I don't have to tell you how many times Cougar, Jensen, or I have narrowly escaped death, considering how often you end up stitching us back together."

Raphaelle let out a small sigh. Clay wasn’t wrong.

"The odds aren't in our favor, Ryan. We're going to die."

Pulling up his bottle, he didn’t even bother with the glass this time. Just tipped and downed the rest of the liquid. Raphaelle shook her head. Time to get the Colonel out of his pity party mood.

"I was born with fetal distress, a heartrate that had been dropping for hours, and almost three weeks overdue. The doctors weren't that sure I would make it or that I would be alright, even if I did. My parents lost track of all the tests that were done on me, in the first hours of my life outside the womb. My mom said that my feet looked like raw meat from all the needle pricks. The doctors told my parents that I had gone blue, I had been without oxygen, and that I would most likely have brain damage.”

Clay looked over at her, one part confused and one part shocked. He let a low whistle.

“Well shit.”

Raphaelle couldn’t dispute his assessment.

“Yet, here I sit. Brain damaged, but none of you ever figured it out. Lots of therapy, lots of tenacity- mostly my mom's, and lots of years. You could fit 9 ants on my fingernail, yet they can kill a grown man if enough of them bite him. Cleopatra rode in a rolled-up carpet through a swamp for three days then unrolled and seduced Caesar with her intelligence. My aunt met her high school sweetheart on her way out of a job interview when she moved to a new state, and now they've lived happily for over ten years. Impossible things happen every day, Colonel."

Raphaelle smiled at him, stopping to sip her drink and let her words settle in a little.

"Our enemy operates alone, with only paid goons surrounding him and doing his bidding. We're a family. Fractured or not, on the run or not. And you can't beat that."

Clay shook his head, barely seeming at all affected by his booze as he stood. Raphaelle didn’t bother saying anything else. She had made her point and now it was time to sit her watch and drink her cola.

She did her two hours quietly before she heard the very faint steps of a stealthy assassin. Aisha. Turning, she saw the shorter woman coming up with her own drink and a sandwich.

“How was it?”, Aisha asked.

“Quiet on all fronts. News says it’ll rain soon, so you might want an umbrella or change locations.”

Aisha nodded. Raphaelle stood, stretched, and then she walked back up to the room she, Jensen, and the team were sharing. Cougar was now more soundly sleeping and Pooch had gotten up to start some coffee and enjoy a little quiet time with a tablet so he could check out the satellite footage of his family.

Clay was sprawled on the bunk he had been sharing with Aisha, his suit and shoes still on. Raphaelle just shook her head as she walked past him. Later, she wanted to talk to Cougar a bit about the bossman. Their situation was beginning to break him.

She found Jensen curled up on their little bed, his glasses askew and his shoes back on. Moving to his side, she gently went for his shoes when he bolted up in the bed, looking panicked. His arms went out and he was half off of the bed before Raphaelle caught him.

Moving forward, she put a hand on his shoulder and the other across his knee. This was hardly the first time she had needed to rouse him from a nightmare. Softly calling his name, she tried to coax him back to the land of consciousness.

"Hey, hey, Jake. It's me. It's Rafe. It's your Rafe."

She repeated it a couple times, letting her hands stay attached to him but away from his neck and face. Letting her hands stray past his shoulders or anywhere near his face, always resulted in his truly busting loose and wild. His blue eyes look wild before locking onto her eyes. His hands gripped her upper arms tightly, but not enough to bruise or really hurt her.

"You're alright?"

She nodded.

"You aren't burned?"

Raphaelle shook her head.

"It was just a dream, Jake. Just a dream. I'm right here, safe with you, on the boat. The whole team is safe."

He nodded slowly, drooping and falling backward, his head landing against her shoulder. Raphaelle maneuvered them to lay down, face to face, on their sides. Getting a sleepy, upset Jensen to lay down with her didn’t take much effort.

He shifted them, laying on his back and dragging her up closer to him. Raphaelle knew what he was trying to do. She moved into what he had jokingly told her was ‘her place’. With her head resting on his shoulder and his arms having moved to encircle her, he finally began to breathe evenly and at a normal rate.

"What happened, Jake?", she asks.

He didn’t want to tell her. He didn't want her to know what he saw, the visions he has of all the horrible things that might happen to her, that he would be powerless to stop. Ever since that day on the boat when he came up and found her bleeding as she piloted them to safety, he had been having nightmares on and off about things happening to her.

But when he looked over at his girlfriend face, her concerned eyes, he could not withstand it for long. Her expression broke his resolve. It always did.

"We were looking through a building, trying to find Roake. He was alive, we had forgiven him somehow, and he went in with the Colonel to do a job. They were in trouble, Cougar couldn't find them in his scope, so you, Pooch, and I all went in, trying to find them. Cougar radioed that he had found the Colonel and was getting him out, so you and I split up to look for Roake. Then I heard him laughing. He had been the one to go after the Colonel and you found him before I did, so I went running after you. Cougar, Pooch, the Colonel, and Aisha were all yelling, so I couldn't hear you over the radio, and I ran and ran and ran, and just when I got to the room you were in, that Roake had you in, there was this huge explosion. And... I was outside and... I couldn't find you. You weren't on the radio and the building was on fire, so Cougar and Pooch were holding me back, and the Colonel was looking around with Aisha, trying and... then I heard you scream and I woke up."

Raphaelle nodded, her expression tender. He let out a breath, his lungs burning as if he had been walking through smoke and fire.

"This the same dream you pretended not to remember, last night?"

He nodded, eyes closed. He didn't want to see her being angry with him or upset that he didn't tell her. Then he felt her hand moving to trace patterns across his chest. He almost smiled.

He was well aware that she knew what it did to him when she traced her index finger about his shoulders, chest, and down his stomach. Opening his eyes and looking at her, he could see the look she got when she was waiting him out.

"I didn't want to upset you. You had just come back from taking your shift on watch, and I wanted you to just go back to sleep."

Raphaelle nodded, understanding. Leaning a little upward, she kissed him.

"I love you, Jake."

He smiled brightly.

"I love you too, Raphaelle."

“Good.”, she said before pressing a quick kiss to his forehead., “Now go to sleep. Big day tomorrow.”

Jensen just smiled and pulled her a little closer against his side.

~^~^~^~^~^~

Jensen typed away and sipped his terrible coffee, trying to track down some info on Barnaby from Aisha’s info-dump she had given him earlier. Beside him, Cougar was cleaning his weapons. Pooch and Raphaelle were out picking up some supplies, leaving the Colonel and Aisha to each go to their separate corners and pretend the other didn’t exist.

“Cougar?”

The other man glanced up at Jensen.

“Do you think we’ll ever catch Max and get this fixed, or do you think the Colonel’s right, that we’ll die in a trap at some point?”

Cougar seemed to consider a spell before answering. Jensen hadn’t really expected a rapid response.

“I think,” Cougar laid down the weapon and toyed with the cleaning rag in his fingers, “that it will be a long road, and not easy. But yes. We’ll get Max and we will be able to go home.”

Jensen nodded. Pooch was a hopeless optimist who was also desperate to get home to his wife and son, so Jensen couldn’t ask Pooch. He knew Pooch’s answer better than Pooch did. Aisha was sarcastic and mean when Jensen asked her questions about Max, the Colonel was as bleak as a mid-winter day in a Bronte novel. Raphaelle refused to believe Jensen and Pooch wouldn’t get back to their families, so that left Cougar. Cougar was honest to a fault.

“Why do you ask?”

“Clay said something to Rafe last night, about how we’ll either get picked off one at a time over the course of months, or we’ll all get snatched in a trap by Max so he’ll get us in one go. That this mission doesn’t have a happy ending.”

“He’s wrong.”

Jensen was a little taken aback to hear Cougar so bluntly dispute their Colonel. Cougar, on the other hand, was calmly cleaning his weapons again. Jensen just shook his head and went back to his computer.

“Oh boy- YES!”, he crowed as he continued to type.

“What?”, Cougar asked, confused.

“I found Barnaby. He’s on a plane heading for London.”

“That’s where we were heading next.”

“Yes.”, Jensen answered distractedly as he typed.

“Why is that good, that he’s a step ahead of us?”

“Because he’s on a plane with his phone and tablet open to the plane’s wifi and I have his GPS, facial scan, fingerprint, and have been spending too much time watching old murder mysteries with Raphaelle.”

“I don’t get the connection.”

Jensen typed furiously, his eyes wide and scanning his work, as he spoke rapidly to his best friend.

“Because I am framing him for something that will get him arrested upon arrival in London and he will be stuck there for a very, very long time. He’s about to sloppily try to hack into British Intelligence from his tablet, with his phone GPS putting him on the plane and his tablet putting him on the plane’s wifi, so the hack will trace right back to him and he will be a threat to national security- which, technically, he already is they just don’t know about it, but they will now, so he’ll be gone and we’ll be able to breathe a little easier. See?”

Cougar came over, looking at the array of things on Jensen’s screen. It was Greek and Klingon mixed together, to him, but as long as it made sense to Jensen so Jensen could manipulate things to the team’s favor, Cougar was fine with his own lack of understanding.

“DONE! He’s done. Fried. Toast. Gonna spend the rest of his life in a box, eating three squares on the Brits’ dime.”, Jensen triumphed as he spun around on his chair to face Cougar.

The kid’s grin was ear to ear and he looked every bit the imp they teased him about being. He had trapped Barnaby without any of them having to risk their necks in a field op.

“I’m glad you’re on our side.”

Jensen nodded.

“Right back at’cha.”

Cougar nodded, returning to the table to finish cleaning his weapons. Jensen let out a breath, looking around out all the windows of the little office they were sitting on, within their house-boat. Cougar hadn’t ever pictured living on one, let alone the fancier ones they had on the west coast. But he was certainly not averse to it, now that he had stayed in theirs for the past two weeks.

“Jensen?”

“Yeah?”

“Think you should share this with the Colonel?”

Jensen’s blue eyes went wide and his mouth matched.

“Oh, oh! RIGHT!”

The hacker took off in a mad dash as Cougar shook his head and dabbed his rag into the cleaner. Maybe sometime he would have to talk to Clay about getting Jensen checked out for adult ADHD or something.


End file.
